Have been living in this apartment for almost a decade, and have been pleased most of the time; however, in recent years, it really seems to have fallen by the wayside. Maintenance is lacking (the hallway outside my apartment smelled of spoiled milk for about a week), and I've recently had an encounter with bedbugs. At the beginning of September I returned to my apartment after spending a few days with family, and noticed about 20 appleseed-sized bugs crawling the wall near my bed. Having no ide

a what they were at the time I just killed them all and went to bed. The next day at work, I did some research and found out they were bedbugs. For the next two days I had trouble sleeping and finally had to move in temporarily with family. Thinking my upkeep of the unit may have led to their arrival I set forth on a cleaning expedition and cleared my apartment of all the clutter that had accumulated (I later learned it was likely nothing I'd done personally, and wondered if, since the occurrence was so close to the beginning of the month, if someone had moved in and brought them in). Once that was complete, I informed the superintendent of the bedbug issue. I was informed my unit would be sprayed on September 28 with another spraying to follow. To be on the safe side, I discarded my mattress and box spring after discovering signs the bugs had made themselves at home in the seams.

Thinking all should be well, I moved back into my unit on October 8, and that night found a bug crawling along the baseboard. Discouraged, I called the super again and let her know of the issue. They scheduled another spraying for October 15, and I would have likely been okay staying there had one bug not crawled across my face while I was sleeping. This whole incident led to paranoia about the bugs crawling on me, and I am certain negatively affected my performance at my job, so on the night of the 9th I gathered everything up and moved out again.

I was informed they sprayed again on the 15th, and, again, thinking all was well, moved back in on October 27. That night, while sitting in front of my computer in my bedroom, something crawled across my arm: another bedbug. Here we go again: I moved all my clothing out on the 28th and informed the super that the bugs were still present. I am still not living in my apartment (yet still paying rent), and, having returned after setting a homemade trap outside my closet (double-sided tape), have found the bloodsucking menace has yet to be eradicated. If there is any positive to be found, it seems the bug was trapped coming out of the closet, and that there was only one that tried venturing out.

I am at my wit's end here, as I don't know if the exterminators they've hired really have the ability to treat for bedbugs. I also feel I'm getting no support from the superintendent, and really don't know if I'll be able to move back into my apartment (and I know I can't stay where I am right now, since winter is approaching and I'd rather not have to do my commute in snowy weather). I've already had to incur a significant expense to replace my mattress and would rather not have to dispose of all my other furniture and belongings as well (I'm planning on doing that when I move into a condominium, but I can't necessarily see that happening in the foreseeable future). What recourse do I have?